Cooking cakes – ingredients matter

What happens if I leave things out?

In this experiment you make a batch of small sponge cakes.

Each time you leave one ingredient out and see what happens.

Why do I need to do that?

If you leave an ingredient out, the look and the taste of the cake changes.

This picture shows sponge cake with no egg, no fat, no baking powder

What to do

Make 4-5 batches of sponge cakes – each batch has an ingredient missing.

Sponge cake basic recipe – makes 6 cakes

60 g margarine
60 g caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
60 g plain flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Beat the margarine and sugar together until creamy.
Beat in the egg and stir in the sieved flour and baking powder until smooth.
Spoon equal amounts into 6 baking cases and bake for 20 -25 minutes until firm and golden.
Cool on a wire rack.

Leave out the egg
Follow the basic recipe but replace the egg with 60 ml (60g) water.
Share into 6 baking cases and bake in the same way.

Leave out the fat – margarine
Mix together the sugar, flour, baking powder and egg to a batter.

Spoon into 6 baking cases and bake in the same way.

Leave out the baking powder
Make the same as the basic recipe but don’t add the baking powder.

Share into 6 baking cases and bake in the same way.

Leave out the sugar
Mix the margarine, flour and baking powder together.
Share into 6 baking cases and bake in the same way.

Use the chart to compare results

Cake	Flavour	Texture
Basic recipe	Buttery, sweet, delicious	Spongy with air bubbles and well risen
No egg	Sweet and buttery but difficult to eat	Dough collapses in middle and is stringy
No fat	Dry and sweet but not delicious	Spongy and light, but tough
No baking powder	Sweet and firm, buttery	Firm and rather hard
No sugar	No sweetness or butteriness	Hard and chewy

What does each ingredient do?
Work it out from the change in flavour and texture of the cakes.

Ingredient in cake	What does it do?
Egg
Margarine – fat
Baking powder
Sugar

Of course I didn’t try and cook a cake without flour!